After 14 months, the Shelley-Walwa Road connecting the Murray Valley Highway and the Murray River Road in the Towong shire is open to traffic again.
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More than $7 million in upgrades to the key logging route funded by the Australian and Victorian governments began in February 2018 and VicRoads confirmed to The Border Mail on Friday that work was finished.
"Upgrade works are complete on Shelley-Walwa Road and the road has opened to traffic today," North Eastern operations manager Nathan Matthews said in a statement.
"We thank the community for their patience while works were underway to improve safety on this key route."
The project has been a number of years in the making and included road widening, installation of safety barriers, realignment of sections of the road to reduce the winding corners to improve sight distance, and road sealing.
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The works were expected to be completed by February this year, but wide centre-line safety treatments were added to the project, which slightly extended the construction period.
Shelley-Walwa Road has been closed numerous times in recent years due to unsafe conditions in winter.
Towong Mayor David Wortmann said the federal government money came through the Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Program as HVP, who supported the upgrades, have a large plantation in the area.
"Because it's a key connection to get the timber from our shire to Tumbarumba, that was part of why the federal money was contributed," he said.
"The Murray Valley Highway is utilised (for timber haulage) too, which is another VicRoads road, and we're always looking for upgrades, especially passing lanes with so many heavy vehicles."
Cr Wortmann said as state government budget planning got underway, he hoped his council could put forward priorities for roads and also secure the $800,000 needed for the $2.6 million Upper Murray Events Centre at Corryong.
"It's a very large project and we have federal grant funding, council money, and in-kind financial support from the community, but we'd love a state funding contribution," he said.
"We were hoping to get a commitment in the election campaign but unfortunately we didn't, and we're still working with the relevant minister."